Can the ioHD replace a desktop KONA/AJA?

Hello,
In our "economic downturn", My company is looking to save a few bucks. We are curious if there are performance, codec and other stark differences between the ioHD and our other KONA Lhe's?

We do alot of desktop work, but more and more are being asked to do field work in 1080i. We shoot on F900's and bring everything in to FCP uncompressed DVCPRO HD. We have a newer macbook pro and would like to know if we were to purchase the ioHD could we then use it on a new desktop system the same way we use our Kona/Aja LH? Please help?

Also I am very curious to find out more about apple pro res 422? Any direction would be helpful. I am new the FCP world... Avid had my attention for years. Thanks for the help.

As long as you don't need uncompressed (as in 10bit or 8bit) you can use the ioHD. The ioHD really really wants you to work in ProRes for HD. You are working in DVCPro HD now, which is a compressed (not uncompressed as you stated) 8 bit format. ProRes is superior to DVCPro HD in both the specs (as in full raster 10 bit encoding) and quality (ie higher bit rate). I have switched to a basically all ProRes all the time workflow from an Uncompressed finishing workflow and I love it. The ioHD will offer several advantages over the Lhe, namely up conversion and more input and output choices, plus the ability to use it in the field or the studio. You can definitely work with 1080i in the field with an ioHD if you are working in ProRes or ProResHQ considering your ancillary and support gear. What kind of laptops and drives do you have?